The End Of Me
by Queenhaq
Summary: Sookie and Eric share an intimate moment after her last conversation with Bill.  Spoilers for 4x04.


Sookie entered her house and shut the door behind her softly. After her last encounter with Bill, she had assumed – hoped – it would be easier to interact with him again. After all, she hadn't fallen apart after walking in on him with another woman (whether he was only feeding from her or more she didn't want to know). As such, seeing him again should have been much easier - except it wasn't. The wound that had just started to heal had reopened and brought with it a fresh new wave of pain.

Swiping the tears from her eyes, she went into the kitchen to grab a tissue. The last thing she wanted was for Eric to see her upset. He would ask too many questions and she really didn't want to get into all that with him.

"You're crying."

She jumped up at the sound of Eric's voice coming from behind her. Turning around, she gave him a small smile and hoped that would be enough to placate him. "I'm not. I just have something in my eye. I'm fine."

"Don't lie to me."

Realizing it was pointless to deny his words, she grabbed a tissue from nearby and dabbed her face with it. "I'm okay now. I promise."

"Who was he? Why did he make you upset? I'll drag him back here-"

"You will do no such thing, Eric Northman!" Marching towards him, she levelled him with the sternest look she could manage. "He is your King and he's the reason you have to hide out in my house."

"_My_ house," Eric reminded her softly, his eyes twinkling with mischief.

She couldn't help but smile at his incorrigible smirk.

"Is he the same vampire who tried to kill me before?"

"Yes."

If this was the old Eric he would be up to no good, plotting something or other to get his revenge – but she had no idea what to expect from the vampire standing in front of her. She used to think Eric was perplexing before; now, he was even more so. "But only because he was trying to protect me," she added quickly before he got it into his brain to chase after Bill.

"From me?" Holding her hands between his, he raised them to his lips and placed a gentle kiss on each of her palms. "I would never harm you, Sookie. You believe me, don't you?"

She found herself frozen in place, staring into his bright, hypnotic eyes. A part of her wanted to trust him – the earnestness in his gaze demanded it of her – but she was still too wary of him. He may not have had his memories but Eric was still Eric, and he had killed Claudine right in front of her just yesterday. Sookie didn't think he would hurt her intentionally, but she was also fully aware of his tremendous strength – if he ever lost control around her, she was in a world of trouble.

Removing her hands from his grip, she walked to the fridge. "Are you hungry? I brought you some True Blood from the bar last night."

"I don't want any."

Picking up a bottle of the fake blood, she whirled around and dangled it in his direction. "Are you sure?"

"It looks clumpy," he grumbled.

"Yeah well, it's either this or nothing. I don't have a fridge full of faeries for you to kill whenever you want to eat."

Eric used his vampire speed to close the distance between them, startling her with his near proximity. She didn't know why it took her this long to notice he was still shirtless, his bare shoulders swaying against her playfully as he grabbed the bottle from her hand. He swallowed the contents quickly and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, a distasteful expression on his face.

"This is horrible."

"You're welcome," Sookie said pointedly and side-stepped around him. He followed behind her into the parlour and when she took a seat on the couch, he sat right next to her. She wondered if he could sense her hesitancy around him and was simply choosing to ignore it. Either way, he didn't seem to mind invading her personal space.

She turned on the TV, and was flipping through the channels when Eric plucked the controller out of her hand. "Hey!"

He grinned. "You had your turn. Now it's mine."

Suddenly his smile transformed into a frown when Eric's face flashed across the screen, lamenting about vampires once being humans and deserving equal rights in a pro-vampire movement PSA. Quickly, she turned off the television.

"Maybe I'll call Pam and ask her to bring over some of your clothes," Sookie said, hoping to distract Eric. "You can't be walking around here half-naked all the time. It's not decent."

He slid down to lie on the couch, catching her by surprise when he planted his head on her lap. "But you like looking at me."

"I'm surprised you and your swelled head can fit into this room," she retorted, smiling down at him. His blue eyes danced with delight as he took her hand and started tracing patterns on her palm.

Despite the fact that he was half-dressed and sitting so close to her, it was the simple gesture of him playing innocently with her skin that suddenly set her spine tingling.

Withdrawing her hand from his, she started threading her fingers through his hair as a way to distract them both.

"I don't want you to call Pam," Eric declared, his gaze locked with hers.

"Why not?"

"I don't like her."

Sookie smiled. "She's probably the only other vampire you love besides yourself. Well, there was also Godric."

Eric's body instantly stiffened at the mention of his maker's name, and his eyes flashed wildly with confusion. "Godric?"

"Do you remember him?"

"Of course I do. He was my maker. Where is he?"

Hearing the hope in his voice, her heart broke. She could've kicked herself for her stupidity. Why in the world did she have to bring up Godric? She contemplated lying to Eric but in the end decided against it; he deserved to hear the truth.

"He's gone, Eric."

"Where?"

"He... died."

Eric sat up with lightning speed, his fangs protruded, anger stamped across his features. "That's impossible! Godric was over two thousand years old! There's nothing strong enough to kill him."

"It was his own choice. He perished in the sun."

Eric didn't say anything for the longest while, digesting the information she just shared with him. "Why didn't I stop him?" he asked, finally breaking the silence that had overtaken the room.

"Because you loved him. And you knew it was what he wanted."

He sat next to her, his head hung low, eyes glued to the floor, and she wished there was some way she could ease his anguish. She remembered the night Godric had killed himself and how deeply Eric had mourned for him; she couldn't imagine how difficult it would be to relive through that excruciating grief again.

Wrapping her arms around his bare shoulders, she eased him towards her until he was lying down and resting his head on her lap again. Except this time he curled up on his side and closed his eyes. She resumed stroking his hair.

"Did you know him?" he asked after a long bout of silence.

"Yes. He was very kind."

"That doesn't sound like the vampire I knew."

"He changed, Eric. He changed for the better."

"Maybe it was time I changed. Maybe that's why this happened to me."

Sookie didn't know how to respond; she simply leaned down and dropped a tender kiss on the side of his face. They didn't talk again for the rest of the night but she sensed Eric retreating deeper into himself and wished there was some way she could stop it.

It occurred to her when his memories eventually returned – it was only a matter of time before Pam found a way to revoke the spell – there was a very good probability she would miss this Eric. And she had no idea how to feel about that.


End file.
